A call for reason and fairness in the case of
U.S. vs. Walter Anderson

What's New

The legal documents have been made as complete as possible, including all sentencing transcripts, and the original tax court petitions.

Also see the Records section.

A formal report, is available, both as web pages and downloadable originals, concerning Walt's conditions of incarceration, along with supporting Exhibits.

Update 11/20/08

Coming Soon

More released legal documents, and a copy of the petition for clemency.

On November 14th, the US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the US Justice Department's petition to overturn Judge Friedman's 2007 ruling concerning Federal restitution by Walt Anderson. This now sends the matter back to Friedman's court to reconsider.

In the 2007 sentencing hearings, Friedman refused to order Federal restitution because of irregularities in the government's petition. Hence, he only ordered restitution to Wash., DC, to the order of $22M+. This latest appeal decision could allow the Federal government to claim over $100 M in restitution.

However, as it so often seems in these cases, the IRS's right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. In the Tax Court petitions, the IRS admitted that they had no hard evidence in key areas previously claimed, concerning the Smaller World Trust! Should the Tax Court rule in Walt's favor, the total tax liability could diminish significantly, and his sentence reduced under completely different guidelines.

The Tax Court Petitions are now available online! they are a very interesting read!

Meanwhile, we are moving ahead with a petition to the outgoing Bush administration for either executive clemency (a pardon), or a commutation of Walt's sentence to time served, at the very least. This is a long shot, and of course the Justice Department will fight back, as they do in all executive clemency cases. But if an appeal is made on the basis of Walt's background, the facts of the case, and the conditions of his treatment in the DC jail, there is at least a small hope.

Walt is presently incarcerated at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Fairton, NJ. He can receive mail (see "Contact" page), but his phone time is limited to only 300 minutes per month. He can now also receive e-mail by way of a special program newly implemented for minimum-security inmates. If you are on Walt's approved visitors list, you will be able to send and receive text-only (no attachments) e-mails.

A special note to the Prosecution in Walt's original case: In reviewing the transcripts and exhibits from the sentencing hearings in March of 2007, I ran across an item in a footnote on page 9 of the "Governments Response to Defendant's Sentencing Memorandum", (WA-156), published 3/14/07*. The footnote states: "From 2005 through present, [defendant] authorized a website, www.justiceforwalt.com, which contains his photograph and his personal writings."

This is not at all correct, in fact, I'm mildly insulted. Mr. Anderson did not "authorize" anything concerning the creation or content of this website. He has no "ownership" of this site, nor has he any approval-authority over its contents. To the contrary - any material in Walt's own hand on these pages was posted here with editorial approval, not the other way around. The editor and host of these pages do what we do of our own free will out of a sense of individual moral duty and sense of justice, as difficult as that may be for a Federal Prosecutor to comprehend. I did not even know Mr. Anderson very well until after he was arrested. It was months later, after hearing about his Gitmo-like treatment in the DC jail, and impassioned pleas from Walt's family and close friends, that I felt compelled in late 2005 to start this site. I have no apologies to make, and would do it again. This site will continue to be updated until either Walt is released from prison, or I myself am hauled away to the "gulag". I heard during the trial that this site "pissed off" the government. If so, I've done my job - one I will proudly continue to do until justice is finally done by Walter Anderson.

-- Thomas Andrew Olson, July 19, 2008

(* On an unrelated note - I couldn't help but notice that on Page 8 of the same document, you just had to mention that in 2002 Walt bought 8 books on setting up trusts before consulting with lawyers in the BVI - wouldn't YOU want to consult the law before doing something so important? But once again, the government prosecutors want to presume someone is "guilty" on the basis of the books they read! Sam Adams is rolling in his grave.)

BACKGROUND

Walt Anderson was indicted for tax fraud by the U.S. Federal Government and arraigned on February 28, 2004. This was the result of an investigation which had been going on for six (6) years (since the summer of 1999).

Mr. Anderson’s legal counsel had been in touch with and cooperating with the government investigators and prosecuting attorneys since he learned about the investigation in March of 2002. In spite of an agreement between Anderson’s legal counsel and the prosecution to allow Mr. Anderson to self surrender after an indictment and to be released thereafter, the prosecution requested the court to hold Mr. Anderson. They claimed that he was intending to flee the country (even though he was arrested when returning to the US from a short trip to Europe).

Mr. Anderson has lived and worked in the Washington, DC area his entire life. It is very unusual for a person not having any criminal legal issues prior to the tax investigation to be held until trial. The prosecution made a large number of completely false and misleading claims to a US Magistrate and trial Judge to convince them to hold Mr. Anderson in prison prior to his trial.

Virtually all of the non-violent offenders are released prior to trial if they have some connection to the United States.

THE TAX CHARGES

Mr. Anderson founded and operated Mid Atlantic Telecom (based in Washington, DC) for ten (10) years. The company was sold to a large public company (Rochester Tel, later Frontier Communications) in 1993. Mr. Anderson arranged for a percentage of the proceeds of this sale to go to a charitable /not-for-profit organization which he created called Smaller World Trust. The Trust was set up outside the United States in the British Virgin Islands. This allowed the endowment of the Trust (provided by Anderson) to grow tax free.

The significant and material issue in the tax case against Anderson is if he is the owner of the assets in the Trust or is simply the founder and manager of these assets.

The US Government claims he should pay taxes on these assets which were held outside the United States. Anderson did not receive any portion of these assets and received only a small management fee (which he reported and paid taxes on) and the reimbursement of expenses for his activities related to the management of the Trust.

Gold & Appel Transfer S.A. (Gold & Appel) was one of the Trust assets. Gold & Appel was a venture capital/business development corporation which invested and managed the initial endowment for Anderson. This initial contribution of around 6 million US dollars grew rapidly.

SMALLER WORLD FOUNDATION

Smaller World Foundation (previously the Smaller World Trust) was formed as a not-for-profit charitable organization with certain specific purposes. It was formed and endowed by Walt Anderson in 1993. The bylaws of the organization designated that it would build assets for 13 years and begin some distributions in 2006.

Walt Anderson, the “grantor” of the original trust, has been an active participant in the management of the assets since the inception. Walt Anderson is specifically excluded from being a beneficiary of the Trust/Foundation by its bylaws/conditions.

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